Written question asked by Roger Williams (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 15 March 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 23 March 2004. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Tuesday, 23 March 2004 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many successful prosecutions were carried out under section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 in (a) Wales and (b) England in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002 and (iii) 2003. - Inc table.

Answer: Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many successful prosecutions were carried out under section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 in (a) Wales and (b) England in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002 and (iii) 2003. [162184] Ms Blears: Defendants proceeded against and those convicted of offences under Section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 are grouped together with those dealt with for offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1989 in the information collected centrally and cannot be separately identified. The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under these two statutes, for England and Wales separately for 2001 and 2002 is contained in the table. Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts' and found guilty at all courts under section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 and the Dangerous Dogs Act 1989, England and Wales 2001 and 2002 1 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Proceeded against Found guilty 2001 England 306 76 Wales 69 25 Total 375 101 2002 England 279 84 Wales 57 21 Total 336 105 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 These data are on the principal offence basis. Statistics on court proceedings for 2003 will be published in the Autumn.

Secondary information